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[dualisme]

BASICS

• current timeframe: 1927, Paris, France
• born June 1895 to a formerly aristocratic mother and an entrepreneur father who founded the Gallard Import A/S business
• when their parents died in the sinking of the Titanic in 1912, he took over guardianship of his ten year younger sister, Sylvie
• to give her a sense of family and keep her as far away from the growing unrest in Europe as possible, he sent her off to a strict, Catholic boarding school where she stayed until age 17
• then after that, he had their aunts in Marseille take care of her, while she attended the art academy there
• during WWI, he was briefly sent to the front, but ended up in hospital with a minor bout of illness that he faked worse than it was to get out of active duty
• made a deal to provide the soldiers with free coffee rations during the rest of the war and was honourably discharged because of that, started expanding the business during this time
• after the war, the Gallard Import A/S was one of the only thriving import businesses in Paris and he became exceedingly wealthy; is called the Coffee Baron because of this
• lives a life of work, work, work with a side of alcohol, no sleep and plenty of women during the early 20's
• gets involved with the new-money family, Dubois, in the mid-twenties, they're looking to sell their coffee from various coffee plantations through him
• they have a son at a marrying age, so Charles decides to call Sylvie back to Paris to try and get a match in order, hoping both to cement his relation to the coffee providers and to secure Sylvie's future
• has recently had a patronage/affair with the Italian actress, Eloisa Paolo, who makes him laugh, a rarity these days



PERMISSIONS

• backtagging is good
• no ooc triggers or warnings
• warning for possible period-typical homophobia, racism, etc. which can be downplayed or left out in casual interaction and will never be sprung on anyone. blanket warning for his background dealing with explicit colonialism - due to his business involving coffee import - which cannot be taken out of the character
• open to timey-whimey jamjar interaction, historical scenarios and, to some degree, straight-up modern au
• shipping is m/f primarily, but open to m/m with prior cr; furthermore, i love gen interaction and especially business-like relations!
• pm for contact, cest/cet time zone


BACKGROUND

Take care of your sister, that was the last thing his mother ever said to him. He was sixteen and glum that his parents refused to bring him along with them on their huge voyage to America. Always because of Sylvie, wasn't it? Take care of your sister.

Then, the boat sank. Suddenly, he was all Sylvie had.

With some advice from the family attorney, sixteen-year-old Charles decided that the best way to tackle the growing unrest in Europe and France's situation was to send Sylvie off to boarding school, somewhere no one would think to look for her, should anything happen.

And something happened. Something great. The War. The war came to France and Charles couldn't see himself out of duty, but he faked a serious bout of illness, pulled some strings and made a deal with the government, he would - for free - provide coffee rations for the French troops, for as long as this damn war should last. That gave him an honourable discharge and a way to focus on his business, taking over where his father had left off, focusing on coffee import and the establishment of coffeehouses and cafés in post-war France. No one had anything to buy for, but what they did have, they spent on coffee.

So, Charles got exceedingly wealthy.

Living alone in his parents' big townhouse, he preoccupied himself with business, women and alcohol. He became one of the big cheeses in Paris and he got involved with the newly rich Dubois family who had, besides some nice coffee plantations in Abyssinia (modern day Ethiopia), a son about Sylvie's age-ish.

Charles saw his chance. Call Sylvie home from Marseille, make her marry Armand, the Dubois boy, and secure his access to the fine-quality coffee forever.

Because it sure wasn't to have a sense of family back, no. No.